Five members of a kidnap syndicate terrorising Obada Oko and its environs have been arrested by operatives of the Ogun State Police Command.
The spokesman of the Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed this in a statement he issued on Wednesday in Abeokuta.
He gave the names of the suspects as Aliu Manya, Usman Abubakar, Abayomi Olayiwola, Nasiru Muhammad and Bello Usman.
Oyeyemi said they were arrested following information received by policemen attached to Obada Oko Divisional Police Headquarters that the men were sighted on two motorcycles inside a forest at Eleja area of Obada Oko at about 8pm.
Upon the information, the Divisional Police Officer of Obada Oko Division, CSP Tijani Muhammed, quickly mobilised his men and in conjunction with other stakeholders like So Safe Corps, hunters and local vigilante stormed the forest where the five suspects were apprehended.
Recovered from them were illicit drugs such as packs of tramadol, weeds suspected to be Indian hemp, three cutlasses, eskay and two motorcycles with registration number MEK 504 VC and ODE 423 VC as well as cash sum of N73,000.
While the investigation was going on, a kidnap victim, who was earlier kidnapped and released, came forward to identify the suspects as those that kidnapped him.
His brother, who took ransom money to them, also identified two amongst the suspects as those who collected the money from him for the release of his brother.
The Commissioner, Lagos State Police Command, Lanre Bankole, has ordered the transfer of the suspects to Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for discreet investigation.
Bankole also directed that other members of the gang should be hunted for and brought to justice.
He therefore appealed to members of the public to assist the police by giving them useful information that will assist in tracking down the criminals within their areas.
